A man who killed one person and injured six others at a Hamburg supermarket was known to authorities as an "Islamist" who was also suffering from psychological problems.
On Friday, the failed asylum-seeker had attacked shoppers in a supermarket, shouting “Allahu Akbar” before being overpowered by passers-by, police and officials said. Police said that the man was a 26-year-old born in the United Arab Emirates, but were unable to immediately confirm his nationality or identify the motive behind the violence.
On Saturday, the city's interior minister said that he was known to authorities as an “Islamist” and also suffered from psychological problems.
“He was known as an Islamist but not a jihadist,” said Andy Grote, noting “there are indications of radicalisation”.
He added that while there could have been an Islamist motive for the attack, the suspect was also mentally unstable.
“It remains unclear which was the overriding element,” said Grote.
Mayor Olaf Scholz said that the attack had been motivated by “hate,” although he stopped short of declaring it a terrorist incident, on Friday.
“It makes me especially angry that the perpetrator appears to be a person who claimed protection in Germany and then turned his hate against us,” he said.
The attacker had been scheduled to be deported, but the process had been held up as he lacked identity papers, Scholz said.
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